Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a medical article used to provide access to the vasculature of a patient. More particularly, this invention relates to a medical article with wings configured to stabilize the medical article on the patient.
Description of the Related Art
Medical professionals routinely require access to the vasculature of a patient for delivery or withdrawal of fluids to or from the patient's bloodstream. When such access is required over any period of time, it is common to introduce a catheter or similar medical article into the bloodstream of the patient to provide reusable access, for instance in order to deliver medication and/or fluids directly into the bloodstream of the patient.
In intravenous applications, the catheter is generally short and includes a fitting, for example, a luer connector, at one end that is designed for attachment to another medical line or another medical article. Such a connector may also include a spin nut to lock the medical line to the catheter. In this way the same catheter may be connected to and released from different medical lines in order to exchange the medical lines without the need to introduce multiple intravenous catheters. In some cases, an extension set comprising a medical tube with a spin nut at one end can be connected to the catheter, so that the free end of the extension set can be attached to another medical line or system as desired, at a location further away from the insertion site than the catheter hub.
It is often advantageous to restrict the movement of the catheter. A moving catheter may cause discomfort to the patient, restrict the administering of fluids or medications or the draining of fluids, cause infection, or become dislodged from the patient unintentionally. In order to keep the catheter or other medical tubing properly positioned for the duration of treatment, the catheter or medical tubing can be stabilized on the patient in a variety of ways. Most commonly, the medical provider may attempt to restrict movement of the catheter by securing the distal end of the catheter, or a portion of a medical device connected to the catheter such as a connector fitting, to the patient using tape. Medical providers commonly place long pieces of tape across the distal end of the catheter, often in a crisscross pattern, to secure the catheter distal end to the patient. This securement is intended to inhibit disconnection between the catheter and the patient or between the catheter and another medical article, such as a drainage tube, as well as to prevent the catheter from catching on other objects, such as on a bed rail.